Cyborg Skin: Scientists Create First Functional Electronic Skin

One of the many functions of our skin is to detect pressure. Someone digging a knife into your hand? Probably a good idea to pull it away. Feel that glass of ice-cold lemonade slipping through your fingers? Tighten your grip! Up until recently this ability to feel pressure changes was unique to our own, biological skin. However, scientists have recently developed an electronic skin prototype—that can do the same thing.

Not only can this innovative "electronic skin" detect pressure, it can also determine from what direction that pressure is coming. This information is valuable, says Dr. Hyunhyub Ko, because it can help our bodies determine how to manipulate objects and react to stimuli.

But why, you might ask, do we need artificial skin to do exactly what our natural covering already does? Engineers hope to use this technology to make prosthetics more realistic—and more usable.

Source: American Chemical Society. "New 'electronic skin' for prosthetics, robotics detects pressure from different directions." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 December 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141210121405.htm>.